


Late Night Espressos

by TheKidFromYesterday



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: AU, Barista!Phil, Dan's stressed out, Extremely and overly fluffy, First Meeting, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, One Shot, Student!Dan, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 21:23:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7454430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKidFromYesterday/pseuds/TheKidFromYesterday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr AU prompt: The Coffee machine stopped working and you're cramming for finals, please don't cry</p>
            </blockquote>





	Late Night Espressos

**Author's Note:**

> Right so I stayed up until 2 am writing this because who needs sleep? Hahahahaha just kidding. I need sleep. A lot.  
> Enjoy!

The bell above the coffee shop door jingled cheerfully as someone entered, alerting Phil to another customer. He did his best to shoot the customer an apologetic smile as he made his way towards the counter. 

The man was young, and looked as if he were only a teenager, being forced into adulthood and carrying way too much stress and responsibility for one person on his shoulders.

Uni, Phil thought, not finding it in himself to miss his own classes and dorm. 

The customer in front of Phil looked exhausted, dark rings beneath his eyes and a look on his features that gave off the ‘slightly undead from my lack of sleep’ vibe. His backpack seemed to be so stuffed with textbooks and papers that it weighed him down and his hunched shoulders had Phil subconsciously straightening his own. The boy was cute, his big, dark eyes and his hair that was too long and what seemed to be a dimple on his left cheek.

“Sorry, we’re—”

“Espresso.” The young man said, seemingly completely deaf to Phil’s words. “Anything with caffeine.” He leaned an elbow on the counter, his forehead resting on his hand, “Finals.” He muttered, and Phil felt a twinge of pity for the boy.

“Sorry.” He began again, “The coffee machine is down, and I was just about to close up for the night.”

A look of utter horror came across the student’s face as he lifted his head from the counter. “No.” 

Phil nodded sympathetically, “I’m sorry, I should have put the ‘closed’ sign up earlier.”

“No, no, no, no...” The man threw his hands up in frustration, almost tipping backward on account of the over stuffed backpack. “You can’t be closed because the coffee machine at the dorm is down and I don’t have a kettle and it’s fucking ten ‘o clock at night—” 

Phil only watched, eyes wide as the student broke down, ranting to Phil about how crap the coffee maker back at the dorm is but hey, at least it had coffee until tonight, which was when he needed it most. 

“——are tomorrow and I don’t know what to do. I can’t cram for all this in one night—” Were those tears in his eyes? “—didn’t even want this, who the hell wants to be a lawyer? Not me, but here I am in a fucking coffee shop with you and——”

“Um, sir?” Phil was unsure how to react to this poor, overly stressed student, but he didn’t like seeing other people cry. Especially when they were as cute as this stranger was.

The man looked up and Phil noticed the obvious tears in his eyes. He did his best not to notice them.

“There’s a place a few miles down that way,” he gestured, “that stays open pretty late. Their coffee isn’t as good as ours, but—” He shrugged, smiling and hoping to get one back from the stranger. Anything to stop him from crying even more.

The man nodded, swiping at his cheeks. “Thank you, I’m so sorry for...” He gestured to himself. “Me, I guess.” He glanced out the door. “Where did you say it was?”

Phil smiled, relieved, as he locked up behind the counter and made his way around to meet the stranger. “Just down to your left. It’s a tea place, but they do sell coffee as well.” He hesitated. Did he really want to offer? “I could walk you there, if you’d like? So you don’t get, um, lost?”

There was a beat of silence in which Phil greatly regretted opening his mouth, mentally berating himself for even offering. 

And then, to Phil’s great dismay, the stranger began to cry again, arms wrapped around his waist and his head bowed while the nervous coffee barista wrung his hands nervously.

“You’re just so fucking nice,” The man stuttered between breaths, “and I’m being a mess and crying all over your shop, and you’re so fucking nice to me.”

Phil offered a weak smile, shifting from foot to foot. “Well it’s not every day that someone as cute as you walks into my shop.” 

The stranger hiccuped and Phil stammered out an, “I mean...I didn’t mean...You’re very...” And eventually gave up and trailed off, knowing that no amount of stuttering would help. “Sorry.”

The man waved his hand in a ‘don’t worry about it’ gesture, still swiping at tears but there was a hint of a smile on his face now. Phil had been right. That was one hell of a dimple.

The man stuck out a hand, hiding his smile with the other. “I’m Dan.”

“Phil.” They shook hands, and Phil was unable to ignore how easily their hands fit together.

Smiling awkwardly, He ushered the student out the door where the two of them stood silently, as Phil locked up the shop. Dan was still crying slightly, although he had calmed down a considerable amount by the time they started walking. 

The cold, November air reminded Phil once more that he really needed to go shopping for a new coat soon and when he saw that Dan was shivering as well, he picked up the pace, their footsteps the only sound echoing, save for a few cars every once in awhile. Their breath fogged the air in front of them while they walked and every few steps, the back of their hands would brush against each other’s. Phil had half a mind to put his own hands in his jacket pockets, but each time Dan’s hand brushed his, he figured that he could live with frostbite.

Neither talked until they got to the tea house and when Phil hesitated at the door, Dan grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. “Come on, at least warm up a little before you head home. It’s bloody freezing out there. You’ll die or something and I’m going to read the news report and be sad.”

Phil cracked a smile at Dan’s completely straight face, allowing himself to be led inside the warm, dimly lit, tea house.

Once inside, Phil realized how cold he actually was and as Dan walked up to the counter to order his much needed espresso, Phil ended up ordering a coffee for himself as well, pressing a few bills into Dan’s hand, enough to pay for the both of them.

“Wha—” Frowning, Dan protested, “Phil, no.”

“Shh,” Phil grinned, “Just let me pay. Please?”

Dan narrowed his eyes, but handed the money over to the barista all the same.

As they went to sit down, they both immediately headed towards the back corner of the room, taking seats that weren’t quite close to each other, but certainly weren’t far away, either.

“Why’d you insist on paying?”

Phil shrugged, “I was always taught to pay on the first date. I was just being polite.”

Dan’s eyebrows went up and he turned slightly red, but his smile didn’t go away. “First date, huh?”

“Why not?”

Their names were called and Dan got up to grab the drinks, bringing them back with the smile still on his face and his dimple extremely visible. 

“Well, if this is a first date, I’ve gotta say that it started off pretty shit.” He sipped at his drink and leaned back in his chair. “Let’s start over. Hi. I’m Dan.” He stuck out a hand towards Phil again, and Phil was happy to reintroduce himself as well, this time without Dan crying.

They became so caught up in getting to know each other, that they didn’t even realize that they had spent over an hour fiddling with their now empty coffee cups and scooting their chairs closer and closer together. Once Dan mentioned uni, though, Phil refused to stay any longer, lest he keep Dan up. Dan grumbled as he once more hefted the massive backpack on to his shoulders, cursing his university under his breath as he did so.

As they exited the coffee shop, Dan stuffed a folded up napkin into Phil’s hand, and stood up on his toes to kiss Phil on the cheek. “Thanks.” He said, and although it was a fairly simple word, Phil knew that he meant it with his whole heart. 

Phil smiled as they bid each other goodnight, waiting until Dan had walked off to open the napkin in his hand.

Thanks for the first date.  
Next one’s on me. Call me? :)  
Xxx-xxx-xxxx  
-Dan <3

**Author's Note:**

> Woohoo! Fluff! Happiness! A lil break from the angsty monster that is My Love is on the High Seas (my other fic, check it out if you haven't there's pirates in it) Let me know what you thought of this smol AU and maybe I'll write more cute one shots. Who knows? Not me. :)  
> Tumblr: phailingphantastically


End file.
